A statistical classification of cyclone tracks in high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere: Preliminary results

M. LUCINI1,3, M. PULIDO1,,2,3, DIEGO DECHAT 2

Montreal Canada

Otro; MOCA Joint Assembly; 2009

International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS), IAPSO and IACS

We apply an automatic feature tracking technique to detect and follow cyclones in the high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere using ERA 40 data (ECMWF). Cyclone tracking provides an alternative approach to the usual Eulerian studies of the storm-tracks. In order to characterize the storm track variability, cyclone trajectories are classified statistically using two clustering techniques: Mixed-Gaussians and K-means. The variabity of the cyclone track clusters for different years is discussed. In this preliminary study we focus mainly on the reliability of the statitistical techniques: a careful sensitivity study to the different parameters of the techniques is presented. For the optimal set of parameters we show that both clustering techniques give in general similar results. We also discuss differences in the cyclone clusters between the pre and after satellite era.